[Outro]
Yo Mell, you see that girl there?
Yo, that sounded like Cowboy man
Cool
Yo, what's up Money?
Yo, where's Cooly an Raheim?
They is downstairs coooling out
So what's up for tonight y'all?
We could go down to PhoenixWe could go check out "Junebug" man
Hey yo, you know that girl Betty?
Yeah man
Come on, come all man
Not like it
That's what I heard man
What's this happening, what's this?
What's goin' on?
Freeze
Don't nobody move or nothin'
Y'all know what this is (What's happend?)
Get 'em up, get 'em up (What?)
Oh man, we're (Right in there) Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
What is that, a gang?
No
Shut up
I don't wanna hear your mouth
Shut up
Officer, officer, what is the problem?
You the problem
Hey, you ain't gotta push me man
Get in the car, get in the car
Get in the god...
I said, "Get in the car"
Why is he?

About “The Message”

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” may not have been the origin of conscious-rap in the early ‘80s, but it took the idea, ran away with it, married it, had several children and bought a farm in upstate Idaho with it.

In 2017, Rolling Stone named it the best hip-hop record of all time. But perhaps the song’s biggest honor was in 2002 when the US Library Of Congress began archiving recordings that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” in its National Recording Registry. “The Message” was included because “of its focus on urban social issues”, and thus shows it is regarded as significant as other recordings also archived that first year – like “Stars and Stripes Forever”, “God Bless America” and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Though it’s credited to Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, “The Message” was primarily written by Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher and producer Jiggs Chase, with the only contributing member of GF & TFF being Melle Mel who wrote the final verse. At the suggestion of Sylvia Robinson, the then-head of Sugar Hill Records, both Duke & Mel rapped on the track.

There are many different versions of this song with different numbers of verse. Often, Verse 4 is omitted. This is the original, and longest, version.

It has been sampled and quoted many times, often imitated, but never matched.

What have the artists said about the song?

Flash about the distorted artist name, since only two of his band (excluding himself!) were on the track –

I hated the fact that it was advertised as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, because the only people on the record were Mel and Duke Bootee.